Springerz and the Dixie Boys!!!!!

[Jeffhead]

Well I braved the revenge of the south today and took Hey Ya'll and his Bro' down to the mighty Columbia for a little springer action today. All I can say is that I showed them how NOT to get ready to go fishin'!!! The morning started on an ominous note, 4:00 AM wake up, knowin' I'm gonna smell the coffee that I made and set the timer for the night before......head downstairs and wait, no, not that, there is a dribble in the bottom of the pot and the %&*@#!%^$ maker is not working!!! Play with that for ten minutes to no avail. OK, make the lunch, put the dozen herring that I brined last night in the cooler, grab the special filets that I made up for the Kwickfish wraps and everythings cool right, WRONG!!! Out the door, into the truck, and away I go to pick up Mike and his Brother, half way there I remember about the OTHER dozen herring I was gonna bring that are still in the freezer, D'oh.
Hook up with the Bama' boys and down the freeway we head, nice early morning conversation going, had picked up a cup of coffee and the Texaco Mart and just before exit 88 Mike says "so Jeff what are the regs for the Columbia"? and what flashes into my head "gee ya dumb S*** Jeff, did ya get your license out of your waders" (which are hanging in the garage)??? Off at exit 88, if I'm lucky I left the license in the glovebox in the boat (last trip was blackmouth with RT), wheeeew, it's there!!! Back on the freeway, head for Longview with no further incidents (for now!!). Going to launch at Willow Grove, never been there, have the directions, should be easy right....driving through Longview, seems like it is taking forever, stop at another Texaco Mart (I must have a thing about them) to get another cup of coffee (only one is definately not enough) and ask directions (I know, you women are amazed and the men are disappointed) and the lady behind the counter gives me a blank stair when I ask her where Mt Solo Rd is....so I ask about the launch and her eyes light up, hadn't gone to far and it's well marked.
Get to the launch, and start to get stuff ready, just a couple of people ahead of us. Start to put the top up and it flips right into my eye, disloging one of my contacts, Mike sees it hit me, I can see the contact, reach for it and of course drop it!!! Matt saw where it fell and luckily I found it, look in the boat glovebox, damn I know I've had solution in there before, into the cab of the truck and what do I do...drop the *&%@# contact again!!! Find it on the seat and FINALLY get it back in my eye. Now I'm thinkin' Mike and Matt must really think I am just one big dork, why did we even go with this guy!!! Nothing else can go wrong right??? WRONG!!!
Get launched and down river, get rigged up and start the trolling motor, fires up no problem, runs about a minute and dies, this motor never dies, it's the energizer bunny!!!! About ten pulls later and it's not starting, smells flooded, over to the beach. Out with the tool box, spare plugs in 2 more pulls and I breath a sigh of relief!?!?! FINALLY we are fishing!!!!!
Well luckily for me the rest of the day went great, Mike and his Brother Matt are a couple of really nice guys and were a real pleasure to fish with. Oh by the by, the fishing was dynomite, but the catching was pretty sloooooooooooow. One fish that we know of was caught for bout 40 boats that were out. Trolled on the incoming tide, hogged up on the outgoing tide, moved upstream, back in one of the sloughs, back out and hogged up, pulled herring, Kwickfish, Alvins, more herring, nothing, nada, zip, squat, diddly.
This was one of the most disconbobulated days I have ever had fishing, I surely hope that I DO NOT repeat it again soon!!! Mike and Matt, thanks for the patience, I had a great time!!!
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff


------------------
"Never be afraid to try something new."

Remember, amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic.

Hey Jeff, thanks for an entertaining story - sorry it was at your expense though. No prob for the 'Bama boys - they're used to things just like that back home . This won't make you feel any better about your day, but I likely ruined a $900 camcorder getting it wet in the Wilson River yesterday. Crap! Oh, and on the bright side you didn't lose another downrigger ball, Florida style . Couldn't resist - hee hee. ... I'm set to take a couple guys on my first springer trip on the Columbia early this week. Hope it's worth the tow down there. Will be worth the fun though. Then our family is leaving on an early spring vacation trip up to Seattle late in the week for a few days. So maybe that following mid-week you can get out in my boat if ya can get off work. No downriggers or stubborn kickers to worry about . See ya bud. - Steve

[Jim]

Dang Jeff, after reading that I feel bad...I feel partly responsible. I mean we did talk a bit about where to go, what to use etc etc and you know that I am fairly ummm "free" with advice but I never in my wildest dreams felt (and I was wrong I know!!!) that I needed to help you through the whole day...Now I know and I promise to do a better job next time prepping you for a fishin trip....

Jim

[Bait O' Eggs]

That was a great story that reminded me of something, but I cannot quite put my finger on it. Can somebody tell me what it reminds me of. I will clue you into the few mental flashes this story brought to mind.

a few guys going for a canoe trip
trouble getting a car shuttled
some musical string instruments
a boat castastrophe
bow and arrow fishing
a few bodies left in the river
a police investigation
Ned Beatty

Jeff your fishing trip seems to have a few parallels to something. Now if I could just put it all together.

[ZaQ]

Squuueeeeeeeeeellllllllll!

------------------
Fish this!
ZaQ

[smilesforu]

What a romantical furst dat

[Fish4Fun]

Geez Jeff, I thought having a brake hung up on the trailer and small craft advisory posted for the sound today was bad. Guess that would be nothing for you and the Bama Boyz Glad to hear that the day did turn around though, well except for the catching. We did get the brake free and made it to Elliot Bay for Blackmouth. The club had an outing today so we had to get there. 9 keepers for all of the club boats and we boated 2 keepers on the Fish 4 Fun.

[Osprey]

Sounds like a Love story

[Jeffhead]

na na na na naaaaa,
Hmmmmm does have a familiar ring, you been out with these guys BOE?!?! The boyz were gentle on me and all Mike could say was just more material for Monday. I can imagine what He is gonna write about it!!! Did I forget anything Bud?? At least I didn't do anything that broke or drowned something and yes RT, I knew you were gonna bang me for the quick release downrigger ball trick. Jim, next time e mail me the guides pre trip check list, the one in my head seems to have gone blank!!!
Hey Outlaw, maybe we should have come up and joined you guys......nawww, probably would have screwed up your whole clubs day the way I was going!!! Looking back it was pretty comical, and yes I went out and bought a new coffe pot!!! I'm blaming the whole fiasco on that!! Well til' next time...
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

------------------
"Never be afraid to try something new."

Remember, amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic.

[Kenia]

Jeffhead, It sounds close to my weekend including the contact lens problem!!

[O'City Fisherman]

Jeffhead,
What boat were you in? I also went out of willow grove yesterday and nothing doing. My partner had one good hit but nothing else. It seems like there is to much food there right now to do anygood? Well goodluck and I am sure we will see you there again.

[THE REEL HEY_YALL]

Drumroll........ *pause* picks up the microphone.......

All right, a funny thing happened to me on the way to the river this morning......
muh ha ha ha ha

Well I have to hand it to Jeff for persistance. Not only did he have a brush with blindness 2 different times, on water mechanics, and no coffee...he tried his best to entertain us It seemed too rigged so we didn't find the humor in any of it..lol

"Just more material for Monday" --the quote of the trip, besides "the usual banter" brought onboard.

Roy, I think I figured out where I've heard that story before.....wasn't that your senior prom story? ....Doh, wait, no, that was mine. Yours had bowhunting and WARREN BEATTY...sorry for the mixup.

Jeff, did you notice when my brother ripped a fart, that the genius didn't realize he had his neoprene waders on, so when he went to fan it out, of course it just went straight up?

Ya know Jeff, we had a blast, but we couldn't figure out where you hid the clown nose, clown wig, and SHOVEL. lol lol j/k

We had a great time, and it was just a bit early. I still can't help but wonder, "what if we launched right before that guy that got the fish" Scratch that. That would just mean the prop would have fallen off...lol

The way things started off reminded me of a small bass tourney where my bud forgot his license, rod tip broke, and had the prop on my boat fall off while he was driving. Of course I ended up winning that small tournament from the bank, but things didn't turn out that way on this excursion.

We learned a lot, and if I can go out fishing with someone who can teach me (about fishing, duh, sickos) something new, then it was a great trip. The weather was fine and the conversation was good enough for us. (we never knew you could use that many cuss words in a sentence)

Thanks again for the trip and I know my brother loved seeing the mighty Columbia from a boat. We'll definitely have to do it again, since we know not what to do when starting a fishing trip....LOL LOL LOL j/k bud. You're Ok in my book, no matter what ifish says about ya.

Hey_yall and Matt say Thanks a bunch Jeff....with a sparkle in their eyes and an evil grin with their one tooth (combined).

[This message has been edited by hey_yall (edited 03-19-2001).]

[Osprey]

Great title Jeff,
Did you get the special parking stall.....you know the ones they give to normal folk that take a Redneck fishin.

Did he bring his Banjo this time .....Os

[THE REEL HEY_YALL]

Would that be the parking stall right up front? It makes walking alot easier on the victim...muh ha ha ha ha

Anybody else want a fishing date with your cultural icon?

[Jeffhead]

OC,
We were out Saturday. My boat is a 18' white Harbercraft. We fished all over the river from the launch to about 8 miles downstream. I agree with ya on the feed, saw a ton of gulls on what had to be some huge schools of smelt. Probably will be back the next week some time. No fishing for me this weekend, Momma wants to get away YEEEEE HAWWWWW!!!
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

------------------
"Never be afraid to try something new."

Remember, amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic.

[O'City Fisherman]

Jeff,
We will be out the last three working days of next week. Nice little vacation time off. I know what you mean about mamma not letting you go. I have to take the family to go watch Barney at the Rosegarden this weekend. Good luck and be safe.

[Jeffhead]

Trust me OC, I'm not complaining!!! Momma, Me, camper, woods, no kids, YAAAAAA BABBBBBYYYYY. The fish will wait. I'm sure Barney will be very entertaining to ya though. You going back to Longview or somewhere else???
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

------------------
"Never be afraid to try something new."

Remember, amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic.

[O'City Fisherman]

Jeff,
We will be out of Longview wed, thurs and friday.. Hopefully the salmaon hit hard in the morning and then do some gator fishing the rest of the day.. We also have a Harbercraft 16' white and green stripes. If you are there say hi.. hard to miss me.

[bait boy]

Hey o'city fisherman Dan! and I will be out in his boat on thursday out of Rainier last week we fished below the bridge by all of the bankies. caught 8-9 smolt no keeper salmon, no sturg. we will be in 21 ft searay white with blue stripe with American flag on back.
Good luck and check vhf channel 7 for us. hopefully the smelt have thinned out for the salmon to chase some herring.

Rick